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Friday, 30 January 2015

Your blogger pal has asked me to send you something delicious from the Hotel Chocolat Valentines range to enjoy this Valentine’s Day and it would be my pleasure to do just that.

If you’re dying to know who your Valentine is, don’t worry! All will be revealed when you receive your chocolates.

Well this week all was revealed, sorry for the dark pictures, the weather was dark all week and light is terrible. You can imagine though how lovely this looked.

Opening the card I discovered the lovely blogger and friend who had thought of me. Sarah from http://www.lifeinabreakdown.com/ is such a sweetie.

On opening the beautiful ribboned box I was in for such a treat!

Lovely little boxes of heart shaped chocolates, saying Nudge Nudge and Wink Wink. these would be perfect from a secret admirer.Champagne truffles for those who have not tried them, they are soft, absolutely beautiful flavour. A perfect present if you maybe cannot afford a glass of Moet!The Passion Fruit Truffles are amazing, white chocolate and passion fruit puree. Heavenly!The chocolates are all beautifully crafted, as a recipient, it made me feel special and loved. Thank you Sarah and Hotel Chocolat for choosing me to be one of your #HotelChocolatValentines

Its a month into the new year already, how did that happen? I have found the latest freebies, money off coupons and you can also enter some great blog giveaways. Bloggers feel free to add to the linky each week your giveaway is running.

SpotlightFree Origins Sample

Bring any amount of empty cosmetic packaging- from any brand -to your nearest Origins counter and they'll give you a FREE* 1-time use sample of one of our high performance natural skincare products to say thank you.

Thursday, 29 January 2015

I already rate Aldi pretty highly, I shop there and have done a few reviews of things I had not tried. It changed my purchasing habits, so I readily agreed. I was asked to try out the everyday 'Health and Beauty' and have to now admit that this is one section, I do not use apart from the multi vitamins which I highly recommend.

I tend to use branded toiletries, a few bad experiences with cheapy shampoos and hairsprays put me off. So I do not tend to try again as I find that more of a waste of money when I chuck or give a barely used product away.

I opened the box to find lots of goodies and its pretty clear to see what a few of them are alternatives too. One or two I really was interested in trying, the Lacura face creams and the Carino Hairspray. Hoping they would be good.

I decided not to look at the prices first as I felt my first thoughts should be on their effectiveness, benefits etc compared to leading brands or even supermarket brands.

The first try was the hairspray, it looks like a well known brand, my whole family have used for not just years, but generations. Granny recommended it to Mum, to me and Paige and Conor use it too.

I used on my hair, Granny's hair and Con screwed his nose up, but ran out of his hairspray (He is solely responsible for keeping the hair industry's profits I am sure) so asked to 'borrow' some. Beggars can't be choosers I hear!

I loved it, its not sticky, it sprays well, sometimes cheaper aerosol sprays pack up or do not spray well. This was not the case. I use a light spray as my hair is not overly styled. Granny's having recently been styled but fine needs a good spray and especially at the roots to keep it high. I am happy to say her style remained all day and still looked pretty good on top after a nights sleep.

Con said it was really good but maybe would not use again, but the can has been found in his room several times. When after use I saw the price, I was pretty amazed. 79p!! Good quality hairspray with great hold at a cheap price! I don't think I have bought hairspray for that price ever.

I usually use a shampoo for coloured hair, I have tried this for the purpose of the review and i am impressed. i was sent the coconut fragrance. its a rich shampoo, cleans beautifully, makes my hair soft and smells delicious, the conditioner detangled my hair well and the rest of the family are using it regularly. Chris smells gorgeous. I was pretty impressed with the very small 65p each.

The shower gel is lovely fresh, foams well, smells lovely. 100% natural and packed with essential oils. I used the first morning, I was very impressed. It smells great. I tried the tingling mint and tea tree. Its a real wake up morning shower gel, or evening after a tough day and you need a real rejuvenating shower, its incredibly minty. My skin did not dry out as it can do with some gels, it made my skin soft and moisturised. A low priced shower gel that is good for 69p!

Cotton buds, there really is not much to tell you about these, if you use them you cannot really go wrong with this brand, they are useful and as long as they do not leave fluffy particles I will buy, these don't. They are an incredible 35p!! Granny has snaffled these.

The Lacura Roll on deodorants are not something I would use, I tend to use sprays but I did try and again Granny, Paige and Con will use. The clear version is lightly fragranced, dries well for this type of deo and kept me fresh. I have already bought the spray version and another roll on Cotton fresh for Granny. These cost 59p.

Lacura Facial cleansing wipes, again in packaging similar to a brand I use already. I am impressed I have been using the 'Normal' variety. Each cloth is very thick, lovely and large. Easily clean my face and I had no stinging or tightening sensation. Now these do not claim to remove waterproof makeup, but they do. I usually have to buy a separate eye make up remover. So these will save me even more money and great for Paige on her uni budget. I noticed they do a Vitality one for maturer skin and am sold on the pack I am using so will be purchasing. 89p for 30 wipes. Brilliant price.

Now with face creams I am a bit of a snob. I use as good as my budget allows, for the benefits I feel they give. However I do use Boots No 7 as well some of their range is fab.However I had heard Aldi's Lacura Expert day and Night creams range is good, so have been using for just over a week. The day cream is very thick, it felt heavy as it went on, however it absorbed easily. no greasy residue, I just hate any cream that does that.I see better results on my neck and on my decolletage, I noticed a real smoothing effect. Its not one of the best fragrances I have used, but the effectiveness of cream makes me like it, maybe Aldi will work on that. The night cream is very pampering and my skin looks fresh and still moisturised in the morning.OK well this is why I like it, my last pot of day cream was £48, these are £3.99!! Yes really!

I have not tried the Q10 daily face cream as yet as I would not be able to tell you much about its effectiveness as I am using the Expert range. However going on all the other products I have tried, I am expecting it to be good. The SPF factor is a good benefit and I like the fragrance. Another superb price for a daily face cream at £1.49.All in all of the items I tried, I will definitely be swapping my hairspray, shower gel, cotton buds and facial wipes. Have you made any swaps for lower priced items in Aldi? I would love to hear about ones I may be missing!

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

This month for Valentine's Day I am indulging you in a little Nakd Love!!

Now for all the visitors who are looking for some other spelling and theme, that is lets say a bit dodgy you have arrived at the wrong site!!

No I am talking those yummy bars of goodness. Nakd Dlight bars.

Nakd with the help of blogger Wallflower Girl have decided to bring out some more delicious recipes. The recipes work very well for Valentine's Day baking, they include Nakd Almond & Raspberry cookies, Nakd Strawberry Tarts and Nakd Chocolate Mousse Pots. All three of these recipes are vegan friendly and gluten free - perfect for the more health conscious lovebirds!!

Nakd also are being very kind as they have offered a scrummy box of Nakd to one lucky reader. (As above)

Almond and Raspberry Cookies

Grain-free, Paleo-friendly and Vegan, these soft and chewy cookies make a wonderful valentine's day gift!

Serves: 20

Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes chilling

Cooking time: 8-10 minutes

Ingredients:

200g ground almonds

½ tsp gluten-free baking powder

A small pinch of salt

4 tbsp vegan spread or coconut oil

4 tbsp maple syrup or agave nectar

½ tsp almond extract

1 Nākd Berry Delight Bar, cut into chips

1.Preheat the oven to 170c. And line a baking tin with greaseproof paper.

2.Mix together the ground almonds, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Then add the vegan spread, sweetener and almond extract and mix again until well combined.

3.Stir in the Nākd Berry Delight chips until evenly incorporated into the mixture.

4.Transfer the mixture between two sheets of clingfilm wrap and leave in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes, to firm up. Once firm, roll the dough out to about 1cm thickness and cut out your cookie shapes.

5.Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on the oven and rotating the baking sheet a couple of times to prevent it from browning too much. Leave to cool before enjoying!

Monday, 26 January 2015

SodaStream’s Water Made Exciting Challenge is to make my tap water more exciting and as readers who have been with me for the last 4 years will know. I have reviewed SodaStream a few times, the new features and styles make it a fab way to make drinks interesting and a lot cheaper.

But in all these years I never considered just fizzing up my tap water, daft I know and I buy sparkling water a lot, I love the fizz on my tongue and it is not quite as dull.
I do have an extra tip, for the Mums with little ones if you are seen to be drinking water with them and not another drink it will seem more acceptable. So make sure your glass is on the table too. Also great for not eating huge portions.
My own Mum told me that often hunger feelings are actually just dehydration and a glass of water (sparkling as well) removes the hunger pangs!

Children can easily get bored of ordinary tap water and refuse to drink it, which means they are not always drinking the RDA of water. I battled with my two once they reached school age more, I was told before this that I was tight for giving mine water not squash. Its crazy, I was concerned about sweet drinks and was told I was mean! We seem to be giving ourselves and our children foods and drinks that are just not beneficial because we seem like nicer parents. Crazy!!

A survey commissioned by SodaStream made me raise my eyes but with one of my teens I can concur it is tricky! Parents try all sorts of tricks as the above video shows, pretty funny!!

Paige drinks water lots already, she knows its great for her skin, keeps her brain plump for revising and is healthy and loved the fizzy version made by the SodaStream. So I asked Con to try drinking it with me, now with teens it is more tricky. He is now entitled to make some of his own dietary decisions, the 'mean Mum' here does not buy fizzy, so he gets his own.
However he tried the sparkling SodaStream water for one week, I managed to get him to drink agood few glasses, though still not enough. He said 'Its not bad, better than plain water!' I think the SodaStream effect I spoke about a few years ago helps, being able to fizz your own water is fun, even for me.He may be too late to totally turn around, but at least he has thought about it and happily drank some and I think as he had had a good drink, actually drank less cola.For those of you with younger children a bit of fizz in water is exciting and will in a lot of homes work!Do your children drink water as much as they should, do you use any tips or tricks?

The study revealed that 45 per cent of UK parents don’t give their kids water at mealtimes.Almost half (48 per cent) stated the reason they choose not to serve water is to avoid theadditional stress this would create at the dinner table.The study also revealed that 55 per cent said it was because their children prefer to drink fruitjuices, squash or fizzy drinks and that they find water boring, even though 70 per cent of thoseparents are aware of the high sugar content in such drinks.The research also found that 45 per cent of parents admit their children don’t have therecommended daily intake of water, with one in 20 claiming that their kids drinks no waterwhatsoever.However, the study of 2,000 parents revealed that a staggering 80 per cent want their kids todrink more water and will try tactics such as using novelty cups, straws and ice cubes and haveeven tried bribing them with treats or money.
Researchers found that 45 per cent of parents suggested that one answer to persuading their kids to drink more water if it was fizzy.Fiona Hope, UK Managing Director of SodaStream, which commissioned the research, said;“This research shows us that boredom is a key factor in families and children not drinkingenough water at mealtimes.Independent research shows that people with a SodaStream drink one more litre of water everyday compared to people without one. As such, SodaStream is on a mission to get the UK drinkingmore water by making it exciting, simply by adding bubbles, meaning families can have fundrinking more water this January.”This short video - http://bit.ly/watermadeexciting - gives an insight into the battles familiesdeal with at mealtimes with serving water to their kids and the response children give whenpresented with a SodaStream.SodaStream has teamed with government public health programme Change4Life campaign aspart of the solution to encourage parents to cut down the amount of sugar their children consumeby making drinking water fun and exciting.http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx

Friday, 23 January 2015

Freebie Friday is so popular it has seen my biggest traffic and I love hunting for the latest free samples, new freebies this week and hosting the giveaway linky.

Thanks for stopping by each week, I'm really really grateful!!Bloggers/ compers and visitors as always feel free to add any giveaways

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60 day trial offer applies on longest subscription term available in app - Longest is 12 months.Turn off auto-renew from the app store within the 60 day period to avoid being charged. Offer ends 26th January 2015 23:59 GMT.Only available on Apple, Google Play and Kindle Fire platforms.